South-east Queensland's unfunded critical infrastructure projects

Six of south-east Queensland’s most critical infrastructure projects received funding in the 2018 federal budget, but rail, bus and road projects are yet to be financed.

The Council of Mayors (SEQ) submitted its federal budget wish-list in December and travelled to Canberra in March to seek a funding commitment from the Commonwealth.

South-east Queensland is still waiting on funding for four of its most critical infrastructure projects.

Photo: Michelle Smith

The mayors’ submission included several of the most critical infrastructure projects, some of which received funding, while others are still waiting.

When the federal budget was handed down on Tuesday, billions of dollars was committed to six of the wish-list projects, including the North Coast Rail Line, Bruce Highway Upgrades, Brisbane Metro, M1 Pacific Motorway, Cunningham Highway and the business case for passenger bus/rail from Toowoomba to Rosewood.

The unfunded critical projects include the Brisbane Valley Highway Upgrade between Blacksoil and Blackbutt, the Manly to Cleveland Rail Duplication, the Eastern Busway to Capalaba and the Mt Lindesay Highway upgrade business case.

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Redlands mayor Karen Williams said the Manly to Cleveland rail duplication and the Eastern Busway extension had been on wish lists with both the federal and state governments for many years.

“Obviously we are probably going to need a partnership approach from those levels of government to make them a reality,” Cr Williams said.

“We notice there has been quite a bit of rail spend in south-east Queensland and I’m happy for south-east Queensland, but we don’t want to be the last mile of infrastructure delivery here in the Redlands and we need that duplication of rail to get people out of their cars.”

Cr Williams said she was grateful for any level of support, and hoped the state government would fund the business case for the Eastern Busway extension in its budget to be handed down in June.

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Scenic Rim mayor Greg Christensen said he was disappointed there was no money for the Mt Lindesay Highway upgrade business case in the budget.

“Maybe one of these days the freight will grind to a halt and then when people can’t get food in the supermarket or construction material to their project they will realise [the importance of the highway upgrade]," he said.

Cr Christensen said the corridor was already well above its capacity and had no public transport available but the regional council needed help funding the business case.

“Any form of investment in a business case would be beyond our individual capacity,” he said.

South-east Queensland’s most critical infrastructure projects as identified by the Council of Mayors (SEQ):